LAMONT Marshall, for so many years the fastest miler regularly competing in Bermuda, is to be given the right for the first time to compete against the overseas elite in the 2009 KPMG Front Street Mile.

It has long been a point of debate why the 24-year-old, one of the most consistent top runners in Bermuda, has not been allowed to take part at the highest tier of the International Race Weekend showpiece.

Now organisers have re-evaluated the situation and confirmed this week that they will be sending an invite to the Devonshire athlete asking him to join some of the cream of the world's middle-distance runners next January in the elite mile race, which carries with it a $10,000 top prize for any winner who breaks the magic four-minute mile.

Marshall has certainly earned his berth in the race ¿ some would argue he had earned the right to be in the 2008 race, but was instead left in an athletics no-man's-land as the fastest runner in the invitational mile for local men.

Going into last January's race he had ducked below four minutes 16 seconds a few months earlier in the New York Fifth Avenue Mile road race, a time that would have put him ahead of two finishers in the seven-man field last January.

As it was, Marshall was constrained to the local men's race where he again cut a lonely figure as he obliterated the field by almost 25 seconds, but with no one to chase or pressure him he ended with a relatively slow time of 4.31.1.

The decision to send an elite race invite may come too late in the day if Marshall has already geared his training towards one of the other International Race Weekend events, but it signifies a sensible and welcome change of heart by the event team and recognises that Marshall has earned the right to prove himself against the very best on home territory.

"We have decided to give him a place in the elite race. It is now up to him if he wants to compete," said Mike Charles, one of the International Race Weekend organisers.

Local runners, from primary school age up to adults, will have to prove themselves worthy of a Front Street Mile appearance at the upcoming mile time trails taking place at the National Sports Centre running track on December 13 and 14.

Only the fastest 20 runners in each category will gain a spot in the evening races next January, which are traditionally watched by hundreds of spectators lining Front Street.

With Marshall now likely to be missing from the local men's invitational race, the opportunity is there for a new name to take the spoils. Last year Craig Rothwell proved to be the best of the rest as he ran 4.55 from Andrew Haak's 4.57. Behind these two there are a number or runners capable of getting very close to the five-minute mark, and there is also Otis Robinson who has a 4.50 best for a road mile and who ran 4.55 in New York's Fifth Avenue road races in September.

The local women's race is always hard to predict. Last year Bermudian international athlete Ashley Estwanik returned to local action and set a stunning time of 4.55 to finish more than half-a-minute ahead of Jennifer Alen and Victoria Fiddick. The rivalry between Fiddick and Alen saw a reversal of those finishing positions in last Sunday's Bacardi 8K and could make for an interesting duel in the mile if both compete.

An elite women's mile race will be held for the first time this coming January. Road race miles for elite women are rare and the organisers will be watching closely to see how well it goes and to gauge what sort of time-mark to set for a bonus payment for the women. The race winning prize money will be the same for the elite women as it is for the elite men, however, whereas the men have the added carrot of a bonus top-up to $10,000 for breaking the four-minute mile, the women will not have such an opportunity in 2009 until it can be assessed what would be a realistic bonus target time for them to achieve.

Charles said: "There has always been a hope that we would have an elite women's race, but we needed to find the sponsorship. This year KPMG have come in as the sponsors for that race."

He also noted that interest in the Bermuda Triangle Challenge, where athletes compete on all three days running the mile, 10K and either the half marathon or full marathon, has increased. There are already around three times as many 'Challengers' signed up as there were in the inaugural Triangle Challenge last January. This presents some logistical juggling for the Front Street Mile races, with the likelihood that the 'Challengers' will be set off in waves, as a field of 150 or more runners in a single mile race along Front Street would be impractical given the tight turns at the Bird Cage and the entrance to the docks.

Despite the downturn in the global economy, the International Race Weekend has picked up more interest than in previous years ¿ thanks in part to promotion at expos and key races around the world, such as the New York, Boston and London marathons.

Event committee member Peter Lever said: "We are encouraged by what we are seeing and we have some local sponsorship, although we are always looking for more corporate sponsors to come on board.

"As a committee we are quite pleased with where we are compared with the same time last year. We are ahead of last year in terms of numbers, signing up and negotiating with athletes."

The mile time trials, for adult men and women, and primary, middle and high school children, take place on Saturday December 13, and Sunday December 14 at the National Sports Centre starting at 1 p.m. on both days.